(DIP) TURKEY ATTACHES IMPORTANCE TO PEACEFUL BUILDING OF IRAQ'S FUTURE.

ISTANBUL, Nov 18, 2009 (TUR) -- The Turkish foreign minister underlined on Wednesday the importance Turkey attached to re-building of Iraq's future in a peaceful way.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey attached great importance to re-building of Iraq's future by all ethnic groups in Iraq in peace and brotherhood.

"Turkey sees upcoming (parliamentary) elections (January 2010) as a historic milestone in which such a brotherhood will be exhibited," Davutoglu told reporters after meeting Ammar Alhakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), in Istanbul.

Davutoglu and Alhakim discussed the recent situation in Iraq before the elections, Turkish-Iraqi relations and possible future cooperation in their meeting.

"An Iraq in which all the Iraqis, including the Sunnis, Shiites, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Christians and Syriacs, are living brotherly and friendly and a prosperous Iraq are Turkey's ideals," Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu said that Turkey considered a prosperous and stable Iraq as a big advantage for the entire region, not only for the Iraqi people, and expressed his belief that Alhakim would contribute to building such an Iraq.

The Turkish foreign minister also said Turkey would continue supporting Iraq in every field.

Also speaking to reporters, Alhakim referred to Turkey's recent democratic move, and said the consulates Turkey had opened and would open in Basra, Mosul and Irbil were a part of that initiative.

Alhakim appreciated Turkey's stance and role in files concerning the Arab and Islam world, and said at the same time, he attached importance to Turkey's improving its relations with the West.

"We also discussed controlling the terrorist groups harming the two countries. Such terror organizations are harming peoples of the two countries," Alhakim said.

Alhakim said Iraq would attach importance to the rights of Turkmens as much as it attached to other people in its territories.

On Kirkuk, Alhakim said Kirkuk was representing a small Iraq and he would do everything he could to ensure a good life in Kirkuk.

Also, Alhakim said he would do what he had to do to hold the elections in Iraq in the scheduled date in order to ensure all groups in Iraq to live in a peaceful atmosphere.

Later, Turkey's President Abdullah Gul received Alhakim at the Huber Mansion in Tarabya, Istanbul. The meeting was behind closed doors.

The ISCI is a Iraqi political party comprised of Iraqis from different backgrounds. They are politicians, intellectuals, tribesmen, religious scholars, and a variety of army personnel including generals with the police of security forces that have been serving in the Iraqi government.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)